Kent State University
Rider
Flashes Head East For Conference Dual With Rider And F&M Open
1/7/2026 11:07:00 AM | Wrestling
Lawrenceville, New Jersey- After the holiday break the Golden Flashes are back in action on the road when they visit Rider University at 2 P.M. on Thursday for Kent State's third MAC Dual Meet of the season.
The next day they will travel to Pennsylvania for the David H Lehman Open at Franklin and Marshall University beginning at 9 A.M. on Friday. Schools such as Army, Bellarmine, Binghamton, Bucknell, Cornell, Lehigh and Rutgers will have wrestlers competing.
Last Time Out
The Kent State Wrestling team produced another impressive outing in the second Kent State Open of the season on Saturday, December 20th with double-digit place-finishers. Ethan Barr led the way for the Blue and Gold and nine others placed in the top six inside the MAC Center.
Barr(174) won all three matches on the day including a pin in the final over Caleb Neal(SIUE) in the first round to win his second Kent State Open in two weeks.
Three other Flashes advanced to the finals with semifinal wins, but eventually lost in the finals to good competition. Silas Stits(149), Reese Stephen(157) and Chris Earnest(165) all finished the day with second-place.
Freshman Braxton Quaintance(174) was the lone third-place finisher for KSU as he beat Brody Murray(Chattanooga) in his final match of the day. Nick Molchak(133) and Trent Thomas(184) each finished in fourth place.
Nico Calello(125) won his fifth-place match, while Keegan Knapp(157) and Mason Higley(197) both finished in sixth. Higley and Stits have both finished in the top six in each of the three opens they have participated in for the Flashes as Freshman this season.
Scouting Rider
The Broncs enter as a strong contender to win the MAC team title this year as a top-ranked team in the conference according to the Mid-American Conference. They come in with an overall record of 3-4, but all of their losses have come to ranked power-four schools such as Illinois, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Purdue. The lone conference dual win of the season so far came against Clarion by a score of 34-6.
Rider comes in with four ranked wrestlers in their starting lineup according to FloWrestling. The highest-ranked Bronc is Eli Griffin(141) who has compiled a 13-4 record so far this season who recently earned a victory over Purdue's Isaiah Schaefer who was also in the top 25.Â
Tyler Klinsky(125) and Brock Zurawksi(197) are each ranked 24th in the nation in their respective classes and have 19 wins combined this season with a few wins over ranked wrestlers as well. Enrique Munguia(174) is also ranked 31st according to Flo.
Series History
Thursday's meeting between Kent State and Rider will be just the fifth all-time as the Broncs currently hold the series lead 3-1. The two schools last met with a Rider victory in 2017 as the Flashes lone win against them came in a 26-16 victory in 2011.
Projected Lineups
Kent State vs. Rider
125: Nico Calello vs. #24 Tyler Klinsky
133: Nick Molchak vs. Will Betancourt
141: Landen Duncan/Mason Tieffel vs. #16 Eli Griffin
149: Silas Stits/Nate Roth vs. Dylan Layton
157: Reese Stephen/Keegan Knapp vs. James Farina/Gianni Maldonado
165: Chris Earnest/Ty Deericks vs. Brendon Abdon
174: Ethan Barr/Jake Jonker vs. #31 Enrique Munguia
184: Trent Thomas/Ronnie Dimmerling vs. JP Haney/Giovanni Alejandro
197: Blake Schaffer vs. #24 Brock Zurawski
285: Brentan Simmerman/Corey Boerio vs. Hogan Swenski
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Up Next
After a dual with Rider and David H Lehman Open, the Golden Flashes will have two weeks off before two important MAC duals in the state of Illinois on January 23rd and 24th against Northern Illinois and SIUE respectively.
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Players Mentioned
